How to Install a DVD RW Drive
- 1). Shut down your computer. To be safe, unplug the power supply. Open up the side of your computer by unscrewing two or more Phillips screws on the back of your computer that holds the side door in place.
- 2). Make a space. Remove your old optical drive or break away the plastic piece and or the metal rectangle that covers unused drive bays.
- 3). Insert the drive. Open the new drive and set the jumpers on the back to either master or slave. If this will be your only drive on the one IDE cable that will be used, you can set it to master. If you are installing the drive as a secondary device on one IDE cable, set the switch to slave. If you are not sure you can set the switch to cable select. There will be a diagram on the drive telling which position the switch needs to be set to for each possibility. Consult your DVD-RW's manual to learn if jumper settings are required with your model.
- 4). Plug the IDE cable into the back of the optical drive. It will only fit one way and will need to be carefully inserted with a small amount of force. Plug the power cable (a four-pin white connector that comes from your computer's PSU) in next to where the IDE cable connects in the back of the drive. The power cable will fit either way. There are four wires that go into the cable; make sure the yellow cable is the one that faces out.
- 5). Screw it into the bay you inserted the drive into. Take at least two Phillips computer screws and screw the drive in using the holes on the side of the drive. To be safe you should open the other door on the other side of the computer and screw two screws into that side also. Make sure the front of the drive lines up with the front of the computer.
- 6). Start your computer. Most times the drivers for optical devices will be automatically installed. At the very least a generic driver will be installed. Insert the driver CD into the drive and run the setup program. To do this double click on the DVD-RW drive in the My Computer folder and find the setup.exe file and click it. This will install any drivers that are needed as well as any programs that came with the DVD-RW drive.
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